US President Joe Biden is facing an angry backlash from conservative and religious critics after he made his annual proclamation of March 31 as Transgender Visibility Day – a date which this year coincides with Easter Sunday.
According to the White House, the celebration is designed to “honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union.”
“Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration, and I have your back,” Biden wrote in his proclamation on Friday.
As a part of the inclusivity campaign, the White House has also prohibited children from submitting Easter eggs decorated with “questionable content” such as “religious symbols, overtly religious themes” from the traditional Easter Art contest. The event is a core component of the White House’s annual Easter celebration that has been in place for nearly 50 years.
The tradition of celebrating the success of transgender people on the last day of March started in 2009, and will not fall on Easter Sunday again until 2086. However, this year's coincidence has sparked outrage from conservative critics, with some calling it an “absolute disgrace” and going as far as branding Democrats as “a Satanic cult.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the step “outrageous and abhorrent’ tradition-busting moves,” while Jim Blanks, the GOP Senate candidate said that it was “a slap in the face to hundreds of millions of Christians in America and across the globe.” Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that “there is no length and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith, and to thumb his nose at God.”
Former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has also responded to the controversy, branding the move “blasphemous” and accusing the Biden Administration of “years-long assault on the Christian faith.”
“It is appalling and insulting that Joe Biden’s White House prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs for their Easter Art event, and formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Trans Day of Visibility,” the Trump campaign said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, demanding an apology from President Biden.
The White House has hit back at the criticism, accusing Republicans of using the occasion to attack President Joe Biden despite knowing that Trans Day was always marked on the last day of March, while Easter Sunday changes from year to year.
“Sadly, it’s unsurprising politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.